California voters approved a huge tax increase. On April 1, 2017, the cigarette tax rate in California increased from $0.87 to $2.87. That's $2 a pack. That brings the price a pack of brand name cigarettes to $8 or more.
(The tax also affects electronic cigarettes, the BEST alternative to smoking the world has ever seen)
Hey, California voters: raising taxes on smoking is regressive, i.e. it penalizes the poor. And it's racist!
According to the IRS.gov website, "A regressive tax may at first appear to be a fair way of taxing citizens because everyone, regardless of income level, pays the same dollar amount. By taking a closer look, it is easy to see that such a tax causes lower-income people to pay a larger share of their income than wealthier people pay. Though true regressive taxes are not used as income taxes, they are used as taxes on tobacco, alcohol, gasoline, jewelry, perfume, and travel."
Yes, raising cigarettes taxes penalizes the poor who smoke. And many of the poor in California are black or Hispanic. For a pack a day smoker, the $2 tax hike will cost them an additional $700 a year. Voters raised taxes on cigarettes by $2 a pack and now only rich people in California will be able to afford to smoke! And most of the rich in California are white people. According to the Huffington Post, "The average net worth of African Americans in California is just 14 percent that of whites, and for Latinos just 15 percent that of whites."
Raising the tax on smoking unfairly penalizes low-income/no-income minorities and increases rich white privilege. The higher the tax, the higher the rich white privilege. Racism.
California voters are racist. Raising the cigarette tax is racist.
